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Survey: Smer fails to name source of extremism

After almost ten years of ruling, at its congress in Nitra on December 10, the Smer party declared political correctness a source of extremism. At the same time, the Prime Minister and Smer’s head Robert Fico announced a stricter approach towards criminality in Roma settlements.

Yet these are not the reasons behind people turning from support for democracy to totalitarian regimes, the latest poll carried out by the Focus agency for the INEKO think tank shows. The poll addressed a total of 1,020 respondents at the turn of October and November.

Up to one quarter of respondents would support a dictatorship, while 28 percent say they would welcome the return of socialism instead of democracy. Moreover, as many as 35 percent of Slovaks would support a departure from the EU and more than 40 percent expect the arrival of a strong leader and strengthening of his powers when ruling the state, according to survey.

The majority of surveyed people named politicians abusing power, not acting in the interest of the public and not dealing with their scandals as the main source of democracy failures.

“Smer’s issues are not harmonised with the opinions of people,” Focus agency head Martin Slosiarik told The Slovak Spectator. “The people guilty for [increasing] extremism are in politics, according to this survey.”

After the Agriculture Ministry lifted its embargo, it turned out that the companies of Italians suspected of ties with ’Ndrangheta received subsidies worth millions of euros, through the Agricultural Paying Agency.